


a good day

by devviepuu



Series: sanguine, adj.  'hopeful' (it also means bloody) [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Dashing Rescue, F/M, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26399251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devviepuu/pseuds/devviepuu
Summary: at long last, the conclusion to 'proximity alert' and 'cell block 1138'.  emma's gotten herself mixed up in a bad situation, and it's gotten even worse.  with the help of the crew of thejolly roger, she's getting killian back, no matter what it takes.
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Series: sanguine, adj.  'hopeful' (it also means bloody) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545433
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30





	a good day

She was having difficulty breathing. Her hand hurt and sweat clouded her vision, dripping off her forehead. Her skin was blistered, burnt--standing upright was a challenge.

But she’d made it.

She’d piloted the shuttle successfully back to the _Jolly Roger_ , sinking back into her chair when Will Scarlet voice crackled over her comm that he had her locked in.

She’d made it.

Federation Operative waited impatiently for the airlock to release and was faced immediately with Robin Locksley--”Where’s Killian?” he demanded--and Scarlet himself, who peered past her into the shuttle cockpit.

“Gold’s got him,” Emma gasped. “I--I got away. Killian, he--” Emma gulped.

“He didn’t.” Locksley’s face drained of all color and he said, “Gorramn it. This isn’t right.”

He was shaking his head and his eyes were on the floor, on the doors, on the goddamn ceiling. Anywhere but on Federation Operative Emma Swan.

“It’s wrong, is what you mean,” Scarlet said. He stared straight at her, his glare so hot Emma was surprised it didn’t burn. “The word you’re looking for is ‘wrong’.”

He turned and walked toward the cargo bay, as if that was _that_. But the word echoed for Emma, sweeping through her veins like the electrical current, sending tingles to her fingers and toes and heating up her cheeks and she pictured Killian spitting blood and venom at her, whispering poison into her ear as he riled her up--

\--keeping her angry. Focused.

 _Protecting_ her. Unconsciously her fingers curled into a fist and her nails got caught in the scrapes the lockpick had made in her skin. His lockpick.

Robin caught her wince and gestured for her to follow in Scarlet’s wake.

“All of this is wrong,” he said. “This was not how the plan was meant to go.”

Scarlet stopped in his tracks and hissed, reaching for Locksley; for Emma, time stopped.

“Wait,” she said.

Locksley growled something unintelligible, ignoring her.

“Wait,” Emma said again, raising her voice, waiting for someone to speak and pulling the gun she’d stashed in the shuttle, pointing it at Will when no one did. “What plan?”

Scarlet looked at her, calmly. Quietly. _Politely_.

Emma really wanted to shoot him.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she said instead. “What are you waiting for?”

That’s when Emma felt the arm around her neck and the pain in her wrist that loosened her grip on the gun.

Will pointed. “I was just waiting for Ursula to get up behind you.”

There was a whisper in her ear that said, “Calm down, sweetheart,” before the world went dark.

\--

“She’s pretty. Way prettier than her identcard.”

“Of course she is. Don’t mean we have time for this.”

Emma woke up with a bandage around her palm, hooked up to a drip. There was a lightness in her head; they’d given her a smoother.

“She’s bleeding and burnt. We didn’t have a choice.”

“She left the Captain. That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“You know the Captain. Never gonna miss a chance for thrilling heroics. Especially not with--”

“Yeah. He’s a bid damn hero.” Someone was standing over her. “And she’s awake, anyway.”

Emma sat up and ignored the dizziness, reaching for the drip in her arm and trying not to scream from the movements.

“Easy,” said a man who was tall and blonde and staring at her as if she was a science experiment.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” It was Will.

“It’s not,” Emma said, but was restrained from further movement by a woman, tall and broad and beautiful with a fall of thick black hair and a gun at her hip.

“Listen to the doc,” she said, gesturing at the blonde man, and Emma recognized her voice. Part of her wanted to laugh at the ‘big damn hero’ comment and the other part of her wanted to cry, because that _was_ Killian Jones.

That was why she’d gone to him, in spite of everything.

That was why he’d helped her, in spite of everything.

And now she’d lost--everything.

“What the hell is this?” Emma whispered. “We need to get Killian. We need to--” she gulped, feeling dizzy again “--find my kid. He’s not safe, Gold’s looking for him, we have to--”

“He’s alive, right?” It was the redhead speaking, the one who’d called Emma ‘pretty’.

Emma nodded and the redhead--she _smiled_. It didn’t last long, just until Will said, “For _now_.”

Robin Locksley smacked him on the back of the head. “We’re getting him back. Right, Ursula?”

The woman still gripping Emma’s shoulder smiled, too, though it was tiny and strained as she watched the redhead. “We are, Ariel. I promise.”

“Who’s your kid?” Locksley asked, but Emma was dizzy and nauseated and in pain and she couldn’t speak. She was nothing but a spiral of rage and regret that fed on each other, expanding outward--at the crew, at Killian--and then contracting inward, because all of this was her fault. It had been her mission, her plan.

Except--had it?

The spiral started over again, making breathing difficult until the redhead--Ariel--stepped forward and took Emma’s hand and squeezed it. She said, “You know that none of this is your fault, right?”

“Except for how it is,” Will said.

Ariel ignored him. “You’re not responsible. He was always going to go, and he was never going to leave you behind. That’s not the kind of man he is, and it’s the first thing he always teaches us when someone joins the crew.”

Emma looked at her and saw genuine sympathy in the woman’s eyes. She squeezed back. It was all she could do.

“Operative Swan.” A man spoke. He wasn’t tall but he carried himself with a sense of presence that Emma immediately found comforting. He was bald; his clothes were plain and grey and he walked as though he was wearing a uniform. “Please, relax. I assure you that we are going to get the Captain back. Tell us about your son.”

Will made an exaggerated show of tapping the chronometer on his wrist.

“No, Will, it’s clearly important to her, and it might give us additional information we need to finish the job safely.”

Will threw up his hands and ducked before Locksley could hit him again. Ursula kept her eyes trained on Emma while Ariel’s gaze flitted from one person to another.

“Call me Nemo,” the bald man said. “I promise you that you can tell me, Emma.”

“My son is--” Emma took a deep breath. “My son is Henry Cassidy. He’s Gold’s grandson, and Gold wants him back. That’s why I--” She shook her head. “That’s why I went to Killian, why I used him, why--”

Emma stopped talking.

Every face in the medbay was on her. Will had gone colorless. Ariel gasped. Even the doctor seemed interested.

“Shit.” It was Ursula.

“Emma?” Locksley looked sympathetic and Emma blinked back tears. She never should have left Henry with him, but Henry was _special_ , Neal had insisted. Deserved his life with the best tutors and academies the Federation could offer--more than the life an always-on-the-job Operative could give him. Henry deserved his best chance.

Emma had no idea what she’d been getting in to.

She had regretted it immediately.

But that was already too late.

Nemo repeated, “Tell us about your son, Emma.”

But she was done with all of that.

“No,” Emma said. “Why don’t you tell me?”

A woman walked into the medbay just then--a woman with luscious, curly brown hair and a pale complexion and pink in the apples of her cheeks. When she walked in, Will Scarlet turned immediately in her direction, as if he could protect her from whatever was about to happen.

“Belle,” he said, but she cut him off with a glance.

“For starters,” she said, “his name isn’t Henry Cassidy any more. It’s Henry Mills.”

\--

Killian breathed, and it hurt.

He ignored it.

Killian moved, and that hurt, too.

But he stayed focused.

Emma had gotten away.

 _Emma had gotten away_.

She would be safe. The boy would be safe.

His crew would finish the job.

They would end this.

That was the plan.

He repeated it to himself as Gold turned up the dial for another round.

\--

Regina Mills projected a majestic air that carried even across the crappy vidscreen in the medbay of the _Jolly Roger_.

“A man will die horribly, Regina, if we don’t do this. As a member of the Federation council you know how bad Gold is. You know _personally_ how bad Gold is.”

“Yes,” Regina said, her tone impatient as she tapped one manicured finger on the table where she sat. “Which is why I hired this crew in the first place. He’s bought off most of the council and you _personally_ know how invested I am in cutting off the flow of his influence. But I’m not in the business of doling out favors, and I am in the minority on the council. I wish--”

“We don’t have time to wish!” Emma’s hand banged on the cockpit and Ariel hissed. “Killian is being tortured, and what are you going to do, Madame Mills, when Gold comes after you? Or my son?”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep Henry safe.” The edge in Regina’s voice was sharp enough to cut.

“Regina? What’s going--wait. Is that--”

Emma stared.

His eyes looked so much like Neal’s, and the way his mouth curved--but the shape of his face, that was all _her_.

“Mom?” Henry said. “Mom! Is that really you?”

He beamed and his smile could light up the whole goddamn galaxy.

“Henry,” Emma said. She exhaled, feeling like she hadn’t been breathing until exactly that moment as, for a split second, everything was right with the world again.

“Aunt Belle!” he said with a friendly wave. “It’s so good to see you!”

“And you, Henry,” Belle said, glancing at Regina quickly.

But not quickly enough. “What’s going on?” Henry asked. “Mom, are you safe?”

The moment shattered.

Emma opened her mouth to speak but before she could begin to form the words Ursula stepped in and said, “That depends on Regina, Henry.”

Regina’s eyes flared with anger before an eyebrow went up in grudging respect. There was a swift tilt of her head and then, “I’ll do what I can. But so will you. You get me what I need, do I make myself clear?”

“Understood,” Ursula said, and then made a gesture across her throat as Scarlet cut the feed.

\--

“Regina Mills has my son?” Emma kept repeating it. “Regina Mills _took_ my son?”

“No,” Belle said. “That was me.”

Will’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and pulled her close. “I was married to Robert. Not for a long time, he--” Belle shuddered “--it didn’t end well. I couldn’t leave Henry there. And I knew about Killian, about his history with my husband. It was the best I could make of a terrible situation. Henry’s--he’s such a _special_ boy; I knew Killian would want him to be safe, for the sake of his father and their friendship.”

“None of us knew the Cassidy kid was your son,” Will said. “We were after something else entirely. You being on a mission to go after Gold, well--” he shrugged “--it was too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Emma had a sudden flash of Smee’s distinctive red hat in the darkness. Of Killian’s lack of surprise when he’d seen her in the middle of his job.

His willingness to follow her into Gold’s space station.

It _clicked_.

“Killian got captured on purpose,” Emma said. “Why? What did it have to do with my son? Gold is a killer--”

“Yes, we know,” Ursula said. “That’s why he was supposed to say alive long enough to not get dead.”

“That would involve being rescued,” Emma said.

“Yes,” Ursula said, giving Emma a long look. “It would.”

The lockpick. Emma’s hand flexed.

“It was the best way to get the drop on Gold,” Locksley said. “He’s got superior numbers and firepower, and, well--” He shrugged. “For what it’s worth, Emma, I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“There’s no saying ‘I’m sorry’ in the field,” she snapped.

Will snorted.

Ursula raised an eyebrow.

Emma did not like being used as a diversion.

She was also not a particular fan of irony.

Emma shifted uncomfortably on the bed Dr. Whale had put her in. The problem was, there’s nothing harder in the world when an operation goes bad than doing nothing at all.

Nemo was watching her and she focused her attention on him. “None of that answers my question,” she said.

“Killian used to work with Cassidy,” Nemo said. “Back in his Federation days, before--”

“Before the murder, piracy, smuggling, theft of Federation property, desertion and dereletion of duty?” Emma said. “Shocking.”

“It can be a lot to take in,” Nemo said.

“No, I meant the part about how it was _before_ the crimes and not after,” Emma sighed. “Neal was never much for law abiding.”

But Killian was. Or he had been, once. She’d seen the files.

“Cassidy got mixed up in something terrible,” Nemo said. “Killian got involved to try and pull him out. Made a deal with Gold but the op got burned. Killian’s brother died. Cassidy went back to his dad. Killian was out of choices. He disappeared, and took this ship.”

“How’d he pull that one off?”

“He’s a hell of a captain,” Ursula said.

“He had help from inside, didn’t he?” Emma said.

Belle nodded. “He did. He had help from Regina Mills. Robert always suspected she’d done it purely out of spite against him.”

“Regina--” Emma’s jaw dropped. “Regina Mills? Killian got himself involved in a pissing match between two of the most powerful people in the entire Federation?”

“‘S how we knew you were going after Gold,” Will muttered. “Regina keeps a close eye on him. Once the Cap’n heard you were involved there was no stopping him. Figured the best way to stop Gold was just to get in the middle of it.” His expression darkened. “Shoulda known Gold had something else up his sleeve. Once you end up on the wrong side of one of that man’s deals, there’s no corner of the ‘verse he won’t go searching.”

“Stop scaring the children, Scarlet,” Ursula said. “The ‘verse doesn’t have actual corners.”

Whale snickered.

Emma pulled out the drip and rubbed at the spot on her arm. “What’s next?” she asked.

“Plan B,” Ursula said.

“What’s Plan B?” Ariel chirped.

“I’m working on it,” Ursula sighed.

“Well, obviously we have some tactical goals,” Emma said. “We have a rough approach.”

“Can you do it?” Ariel asked.

“No.” That was Whale. “Probably not.”

“Hey,” Ariel said. “What happened to ‘no man left behind’?”

Whale shook his head and smirked. “Suicide.”

Nemo said nothing but turned his gaze dead on the doctor until the smirk faded and the man shifted his posture and, finally nodded. “Right,” he said. “Plan B it is.”

\--

There was a stash of weapons on the galley table. Guns, knives, grenades; it was an arsenal.

Emma was impressed.

Planning a high-level action like this--it required a certain amount of quantitative thinking mixed in with just a hint of immorality and a dash of spite.

That, plus a driving personal desire to keep it going during the downtime.

Emma knew a little something about that.

So did Killian Jones.

But this--”This was all Regina’s doing, wasn’t it? She used him?”

Will snorted and Robin smiled. “It was, but not in the way you’d think,” he said, taking the gun Ursula had just checked and loaded. “The difference between being on the inside and on the outside--it’s all about sanction. Killian lost his. Found out his partners were his enemies and that the world was a much darker place than even he realized. So he found us--a bunch of folk on the wrong side of the law who didn’t hold it against him that he used to be on the right side. It’s the same for him and Regina.”

“You’re only a pawn if you don’t know you’re being played,” Nemo said. “Killian _always_ knows.” He refused Ursula’s proffered gun and reached instead for a pair of knives that he sheathed expertly before he asked, “What about you, Emma?”

What Emma had learned from the so-called right side of the law was that it was bad business to put her faith into anything she couldn’t control. The only person who saved her was _her_.

“Here’s the thing,” Ursula said, cutting her gaze between Nemo and Emma. “We like to plan our missions with the idea of everyone getting out. You know, _together_. So why don’t you sit back and let us do the heavy lifting?”

“This is a bad idea,” Emma said instead of answering. “He’ll still have the advantage over you.”

“Everyone always does,” Nemo said. “That’s what makes us special.”

“I thought Operatives weren’t allowed to have associates like the Captain, anyway,” Ursula said. Her eyes were measuring, and Emma--clearly--did not come up to scratch.

“Lovers!” Ariel chimed in.

“We weren’t--” Emma huffed. “I got a good look at the layout on my way out. I had the goddamn blueprints for my infiltration. Let me lead--”

“No.” Ursula said. “We have Belle for that.” But she exchanged glances with Locksley and Scarlet and then sighed. She reached for the table and picked up two grenades, passing them to Emma.

“This is about trust,” Ursula said. “Captain trusts you. But you’ve got your own agenda just like we’ve got ours, so it’s also important to have honor. Do you have honor, Operative Swan?”

That was the other thing: Emma knew this story--about the bad woman and the bad man. The one where bad things happen and then the woman is left to pine away for her handsome hero, waiting for him to come back, for someone to smirk, and to declare it a happy ending. But for Emma Swan, all of the endings she’d been part of were unhappy.

But maybe they didn’t have to be.

Maybe they didn’t need any more time-outs or codenames or dark rooms full of bad ideas.

Maybe this time, they could _win_.

“We weren’t lovers,” Emma said, meeting Ursula stare-for-stare. “I love him. I am _in love_ with him.”

Ursula’s face didn’t change but something flickered in her eyes as Robin broke out into a genuine smile.

Will Scarlet just shook his head.

“Finally,” he said to no one in particular. “She admits it. Do you know how many stupid jobs Captain made us pull just to keep us in your orbit?”

\--

The proximity alert buzzed on the edges of Killian’s consciousness and his fingers clenched, his jaw tightened.

Gold looked up, his face twisted in consternation before he turned to glare at Killian.

“Listen, if you’ve got guests, I can come back later--”

Gold took two steps forward, his cane raised over his head but Killian struck first, pulling his arms from behind his body. He was battered, he was bruised, he was half-dead, but he was walking and upright and advancing on Gold.

“Don’t take another step,” Gold warned.

“I did a job,” Killian said. “You’re not the only one who lost that day. I lost my brother, I lost my livelihood, I lost everything I thought I was.” He took another step. “Tell me, are you familiar with the saying ‘He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious’?” He backhanded Gold across the faced and watched him crumple, his mouth bloody, his arms up as he attempted--poorly--to defend himself. Killian shuffled forward and just hit him again, watching Gold hit the floor with some satisfaction--watching him scrabble backward as the last of Killian’s strength started to fade.

\--

“Whale, Nemo, and Scarlet are with Belle,” Ursula said. “Locksley and Swan with me. Ariel’s gonna stay here and keep an eye on things.”

“No shooting until it seems like the last resort,” Locksley said.

“Always with your rules,” Ursula said. She turned to the group. “If it moves, shoot it.”

Emma bit her lip and nodded.

“Will, how are we on the override sequence?”

“Pretty sure this will pop the airlock doors, if Robin can make the seal on the first try.”

“So you’ve done this before?” Emma asked, trying--and failing--to tamp down her skepticism.

“Oh, hell no.” Ariel laughed.

“I guess they won’t be expecting us, at least,” Emma said.

“Yeah,” Will said. “That’s because they aren’t insane.”

“Shut up, all of you, and focus,” Ursula said as the airlock opened. “Let’s go get the Captain.”

She leveled her rifle and fired down the corridor; as guards jumped out of the path of the oncoming bullets Emma pulled a grenade from her belt, armed it and let it roll. It bounced off the corridor wall before it exploded. Ursula called out, “Second team!” and Robin covered the corridor as Scarlet, Belle, Nemo and Whale moved out of the airlock.

Will made sure to keep Belle covering behind as he joined the assault, letting off four rounds and finishing with a shot directly in the kneecap of an oncoming guard. He banged into the wall as Will watched, head on a swivel, one eye forward and one eye always following Belle.

“Move out?” he asked Ursula.

She nodded, never lowering her rifle.

Emma strode forward, pushing ahead of Ursula and Robin and ignoring their protests as she did so. “Cover from that side,” Robin called behind her to Ursula. “I’ve got this one.” She blasted back two guards and threw herself at the corridor wall as they returned fire while Ursula dropped the rifle and pulled two handguns from cross-strapped shoulder holsters and pivoted into the fray, firing.

“Swan!” she called. “Grab the keycard!”

\--

The door slid open and Ursula and Robin filed in, guns out, eyes on Gold.

Killian only had eyes for Emma.

She was pale and bruised. There was a bandage on her wrist and dried blood on her clothes but when she smiled at him it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in the entire universe, shining more brightly than all of the stars in the sky.

The last of his strength faded and he felt Ursula and Robin behind him, pulling him upright.

Keeping him upright.

Will came in, gun drawn, Belle behind him. Nemo followed behind, knives drawn, and went straight for Gold, keeping him on the ground with a look every time the man shifted.

Belle caught his eye and gestured, the thumb of her right hand pointing up and it was when Gold turned to follow Killian’s gaze that he looked, for the first time, truly defeated.

“Belle?”

Killian toed at Gold’s midsection, wishing he had the strength to give it a good, hard kick.

“Belle, you don’t understand.” He was babbling. “I can explain, I--”

Killian toed him again. “Shut up and listen to the lady, _crocodile_.”

Belle’s voice was ice. “I used to--I thought I saw something in you. Something good. But then I found something of yours.”

Whale strode in as if on cue, holding up a small object; round and golden and more valuable than all of the credits in the Federation Reserve.

“Holy frak,” Emma said before she could stop herself. “Is that--”

It was a compass; or at least, it had the likeness of one. Emma always assumed they were a myth, part of the story of the all-knowing Federation.

“You told me that all of this was about your son,” Belle continued. “You told me that it wasn’t about power, or gold, or about anything other than trying to move on knowing that you had gotten justice for your son. About giving Henry the kind of life you wish Neal could have had. But all of that was a lie.”

Belle stepped forward, five-foot-nothing of pure rage as she stared down the man she used to love. “You didn’t care about Henry, and you weren’t using this for revenge. You were using it for money. For _power_. That’s your true love, and you won’t give it up for anything. Not even for me. That’s why you can’t move on--you never have, and you never will.”

“There’s nothing wrong with power,” Gold whispered. “Not when it means that I--that _we_ \--can have it all.”

“I just wanted you,” Belle said, and her voice finally broke as she stepped away, back up against the comfort of Will Scarlet and his drawn weapon, putting it back in between herself and her ex-husband. “I tried to be everything for you, and I lost my way. Not anymore.”

“Belle--”

Emma bent down and pistol-whipped him across the face, knocking Gold unconscious.

Their eyes met and Emma took one step forward and then another. Killian wanted to say something, anything, to explain but the second he opened his mouth Emma hit him.

Hard.

The woman had a right hook like a freight train.

Killian swore he could feel Ursula trying not to laugh as he sighed, heavily.

“I can’t believe _this_ was part of your gorram plan,” Emma hissed. “You stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking---”

“Pirate?” Killian raised his eyebrow. “And who’re you calling ‘scruffy-looking’?”

Emma drew herself up, pushed her shoulders back, reached forward and _grabbed_ him; there was nothing gentle in her movements as she kissed him--as he kissed her--and, as abruptly as it had started, it was over.

Except for the look in her eyes--soft. Hopeful. The smile on her face as Killian grunted and looked at Will and said, “Well, you were right about this being a bad idea.”

“Thanks for saying, sir,” Will deadpanned.

\--

“You sanguine about the kind of reception we’re apt to receive here, Captain?” Ursula sounded merely curious as she asked.

“Absolutely,” Killian said. “Hopeful.”

“Item of interest--it also means ‘bloody’,” Ursula muttered.

“We’ve done one of those already today. Least we can do is try the other.” Killian winked.

They weren’t on the civilized part of the world, that’s for sure. Low hills, rocks and sagebrush in a deep valley with the high towers of the city glinting in the distance.

The woman waiting for them didn’t belong here; her clothes were too refined, her makeup was too perfect. She was every inch the high-ranking Councillor she appeared to be, a physical embodiment of the Federation’s power, and she was watching him with a small smile on her face.

It was not a pleasant expression. Emma only barely stopped herself from reaching for her gun.

“Killian Jones.”

The bow he gave her was sweeping and dripping with irony. “Regina Mills,” he said. “At last we meet.”

“We’ve met before,” she said.

“You poisoned me.”

That was news to Emma. She looked to Killian but all of his focus was on Regina Mills.

“You were fine.”

“I was unconscious for three days,” he said.

“I admit we didn’t part on the best of terms,” Regina said, “But that’s the past.”

“Air through the engine,” Killian agreed. “Besides, we understand each other, don’t we?”

“That depends on whether or not you brought me what I asked for.”

“As Her Majesty commands, then,” Killian said with another flourish. Behind him, Ursula and Robin carried Gold. He was bound and gagged. His suit jacket was torn. His shoes were scuffed. There was a large bruise rising on his jaw from where Emma had clocked him.

Regina’s eyes lit up with interest but she said, “That’s not what I paid you for.”

“It’s not,” Killian agreed. “But it’s all you’re getting.” He held up the compass so that it glinted in the sunlight.

Regina moved, as if to stretch out her hand for the compass. “So he really had it, then.”

“He did,” Killian said. “Reckon that’s how he’s been listening in all of this time, collecting his leverage. Making his deals. But now you have him, and I’ll be keeping this.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll take Gold, take the ship, take it up into the black and see if he floats when I push him out of the airlock.”

Regina’s expression soured.

“That was not part of _our_ deal,” she said. “You know, Jones, that I can take back everything I’ve given you. I can up the warrants on your head. On your crew’s heads--”

“But you won’t,” Killian said, gesturing at Gold. “This discharges my debt to you, Regina. And this--” he shook the compass for emphasis “--makes us even. Gold doesn’t have it anymore. You come after me or any of us--ever--and I doubt the boy will take kindly to that. Not when his mother will be sailing with us from now on and leaving the employ of the Federation.”

It was Killian’s turn to smile.

“We both made out on this deal, Regina. Don’t complicate things. Not between us, not when the boy is involved. You take Gold. We’ll keep this. Emma can see her son, and we will continue to work for you when the opportunity suits. Everybody wins.”

Emma moved so that they were shoulder-to-shoulder and took his hand in hers. She squeezed it and felt his hand twist until his fingertips brushed her wrist.

Regina watched them, her expression bemused.

“That’s how it is, then?”

“Depends,” Killian said, making an exaggerated shrug. “She hit me.”

“Knowing you, I’m sure you deserved it,” Regina said with a smirk. “I keep Henry?”

It broke Emma’s heart, but Regina was his best chance.

At least now she knew where he was--would be able to see him, to be a part of his life.

“Yes,” she said. “He stays here, with you.”

A tension she hadn’t realized was there left Regina’s posture then, and Emma felt herself relax in turn.

“We understand each other, also, Regina,” Emma said.

“Thank you, Miss Swan.” Regina gestured.

Emma heard footsteps; she closed her eyes and caught her breath and, finally, turned.

Henry was racing toward her--toward them--and wrapped himself around her with a shriek.

Behind her, Emma heard Killian say, “Are you always this sentimental?”

“You caught me on a good day,” Regina said.

Emma had been beaten, tortured and used--had broken her own heart, given up her job and her life and fallen in with criminals and spies.

But her son was in her arms and the man she loved was by her side.

It wasn’t much.

But it was enough.

A good day, indeed.

-30-


End file.
